According to his Twitter, power forward Brodricks Jones (6'9", 190 pounds) has officially committed to play basketball for San Diego State University in 2015. According to Rivals.com, Jones also had offers from Arizona State, Oregon, Fresno State, Florida State, Kansas State, Memphis, UTEP, Washington State and Nevada.
ESPN gives Jones three stars and ranks him the 51st best 2015 power forward in the country. 247sports.com also gives Jones three stars, but ranks him the 43rd best power forward prospect of the 2015 class. Scout.com and Rivals.com both him three stars and have him unranked among the 2015 power forwards.
Jones will be a senior at Lawndale High School in Los Angeles next year. As a sophomore at View Park Prep, Jones played center and averaged 10.2 points, 11.3 rebounds and 3.2 blocks per game. Jones kept it up as a junior at Lawndale. For some reason, I can't find his junior-season stats ANYWHERE online, but he tweeted at me that he scored 15-plus points and 10-plus rebounds in 20-plus minutes per game.
Scout.com's Josh Gerson says that Jones has impressed a lot of people with his level of play in July on his AAU club, Cal Supreme. Gerson tweeted today that Jones is "peaking at the right time," and that his inside-out style of play "fits well into (SDSU's) system."
Jones' mentor, Teddy Johnson, told Gerson that SDSU was the obvious choice.
"Coach Fisher and staff were honest with Brodricks and told him what he had to work on, what his strengths are, how he fits into the program and how he'll improve with their player development," Johnson said.
Johnson also told Gerson that Jones' liked how SDSU's coaches didn't label him with a position.
"One of the things that caught Brodricks' eyes was that they didn't put a number on him, they just want him to get on the court so they can hone his skills," he said.
Here's Jones' ESPN Scouting Report, as of July 22, 2014. Courtesy of ESPN (insider).
"Strengths:
Jones is a willowy 4-man with great quickness and bounce. He gets great elevation on his jump shot and while finishing in the paint. He runs effortlessly in transition and can explode to the basket for the finish. He plays with good energy at both ends and he has active hands which usually translates to tip-ins at one end and steals at the other.
Weaknesses:
Jones needs to improve his feel for the game (plays too fast) and fundamentals (footwork) to reach his potential. There are far too many times while finishing he gets bumped off his path while trying to finish. He struggles scoring through contact (lack of strength and balance) as well. By getting on balance and improving his face-up skills (triple threat game=jab step, etc.) his game will go to another level.
Bottom Line:
Jones is a definite high-major prospect, but he needs to make considerable improvement in terms of production in the next couple of seasons to reach his potential."
Jones will be a senior at View Park Prep next year. As a sophomore, Jones played center and averaged 10.2 points, 11.3 rebounds and 3.2 blocks per game. Jones logged only 11.7 minutes per game as a junior, scoring 2.2 points and grabbing 2.9 boards per game. But, according to Gerson, Jones has impressed a lot of people with his level of play in July on his AAU club, Cal Supreme.
Jones joins Damien High shooting guard Jeremy Hemsley as the first two members of SDSU's 2015 recruiting class.